Focolare Movement

A revenge of love

Mar 25, 2007

Story of one young Brazilian girl who succeeds in answering with forgiveness to a drastic family situation. And the fruits do not come short…

 I was just a girl, stunned by sorrowful experiences within the family and by the lack of real and stable affections, when I met some persons who had a joy which I thought impossible to experience in life. These persons shared this gift with me and through them I discovered God and His love towards me. For me, it was like perceiving a light during the night that guided me safely on the way of love, which was exactly what I was looking for. I am the youngest of four siblings and my parents have always had a difficult rapport with many clashes, marked by quarrels and discussions that ended up with violence. Besides my family, my father also had another family: a woman and children. For this reason and for the aggressive behaviour towards my mother, we brothers and sisters rejected our him as a father and instead of loving him, we hated him even more. Little by little, my brothers and sisters left home, for studies or to get married. I was the only one left with my parents. One day my father had beaten my mother so strongly that I had to bring her to hospital. Afterwards, she went to live with my sister and at home I was the only one left with my father. The Gospel gave me support, however, within me, I thought I could never forgive my father. One day, during this difficult period of compelled living with my father, he ran after me in order to beat me and I managed to escape just in time. I re-entered home through one of the windows, after he had gone out. It was in those moments of fear and sorrow that I decided to live radically the words of Jesus. The time had come to take revenge on my father, however, I decided to take a revenge of love! I put all things in order and cleaned the house. I prepared lunch for him and then left for work. When I returned home in the evening, my father was waiting for me. I was trembling, however, I had decided to love him no matter what. He asked me to call my mother and my sister because he wanted to speak to them. I had a hard time in overcoming their resistance and in persuading them to come over, however, at last I succeeded. My father was shaken: he asked us to forgive all the bad things he had done and he promised that he would never go back to the other family. He also asked our permission to give support through a monthly quota to his children, who were born outside wedlock and were not guilty for the mistakes he had committed. Though our financial situation was not so good we immediately agreed, and ever since the situation at home has really changed: peace has returned to our family. R. B. – (Brasile)

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